


No Romeo and Juliet

by coffeeshopangel



Category: Merlin (TV) RPF
Genre: M/M, The Tempest, brolin boys back together again makes me very happy, what? bradley sighting at the same place in london as colin's play is no coincedence :3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-24
Updated: 2013-04-24
Packaged: 2017-12-09 08:42:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/772253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coffeeshopangel/pseuds/coffeeshopangel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In truth; he’d had people looking around for him all day, yet with each returning spy, he felt his heart sink further into his chest. Whenever someone asked, he blamed it on nerves. </p>
<p>And then he found himself on stage, blurting out the words he’d managed to cram into his mind. His eyes raked across the audience, all the smiling faces and happy people and he made himself smile back. He ran through his lines, voice stuttering slightly as the butterflies made their way from the pit of his stomach to his throat. A movement caught his eye and Colin looked out into the crowd once more, smile plastered onto his face like superglue on paper and he spotted hair the color of silken straw, colored by the god of the sun and combed in a disarray Colin didn’t understand but found himself loving nonetheless. </p>
<p>Based on the Bradley sighting near the Globe Theater today, on the opening of Colin's new play.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Romeo and Juliet

Colin had been worried all day. What if he screwed up? What if he forgot his lines, like that one time in high school and all the other kids laughed at him? What if he tripped? What if they didn’t like his singing?

He read, reread and rereread his lines, bathing in the warm sunlight that had slipped through the normal overcast clouds and chewing the bottom of his lip as if it were a stick of gum. Eventually, the words blurred together, forming intelligible sounds, like a tongue twister. Colin always though tongue twisters to be more of a brain twister – it wasn’t that his mouth could form the sounds and string them together in the appropriate pattern, it was that he would be on one word and his brain would be on the next.

5 o’clock came and passed, and then it was 6 and the butterflies were starting to beat restlessly against Colin’s stomach. He was backstage, checking everything over for, what seemed to be the fiftieth time that night. He wondered vaguely about how many people would be in the theater that night and almost persuaded himself to check the internet but stopped at the last second. The internet was full of rumours and “hidden secrets” and gossip; all of which drove Colin up the wall.

6 o’clock passed in a flurry of excitement, nerves and nearly nauseous smiles to those around him and when the clock chimed 7 he was thrown into a room with a large amount of people surrounding a tall black chair. Each person held at least one tool that could be classified as a medieval torture device and Colin barely had time to repress a shudder before being forcibly sat into the chair and attacked by the makeup artists.

Colin watched in the mirror as these artists worked their magic – _they should have been the wizards in Merlin_ , Colin thought vaguely, before succumbing to frayed nerves and closing his eyes against the blinding lights.

When he finally found the energy to drag his eyes open again, he found himself already in costume, waiting to enter on stage. He could hear his co-stars’ voices and suddenly found himself thinking about Bradley. Stupid, loyal, loving Bradley. And it sent a chill down his back. _It’s over now – I haven’t seen him for weeks, why would he bother showing up?_ Colin blamed his hope entirely on Bradley’s tweet earlier that day. His publicist had told him about in the hope’s it would cheer him up. It didn’t.

In truth; he’d had people looking around for him all day, yet with each returning spy, he felt his heart sink further into his chest. Whenever someone asked, he blamed it on nerves.

And then he found himself on stage, blurting out the words he’d managed to cram into his mind. His eyes raked across the audience, all the smiling faces and happy people and he made himself smile back. He ran through his lines, voice stuttering slightly as the butterflies made their way from the pit of his stomach to his throat. A movement caught his eye and Colin looked out into the crowd once more, smile plastered onto his face like superglue on paper and he spotted hair the color of silken straw, colored by the god of the sun and combed in a disarray Colin didn’t understand but found himself loving nonetheless.

Bradley James stopped waving and grinned and Colin felt the constriction in his lungs loosen, felt a rush of contradictory cold and warm air splash his face and he broke out into an easy grin. His lines flowed easily after that and when he sang, he put his entire heart and soul into his performance and was rewarded when the entire theater erupted in a wave of clapping and catcalls.

Colin locked eyes with Bradley once, communicating everything in the one stare before bowing for the final time and exiting stage left.

This was always Colin’s favorite part about acting, the thrill at the end where he could take a minute to breathe before the adrenaline rush hit him full force and he had more energy than an infant on a ten day supply of candy.

He was met with applause backstage as well, as the director and all the people who helped make him into Ariel, gave him a standing ovation. He took the congratulations modestly, grinning easily into all his coworkers’ faces before announcing he was deathly tired and wanted to go home and take a bath.

“Not without seeing me, I hope.” A voice grumbled from the back of the room and though the tone was mad, Bradley’s eyes were dancing in the dim light.

The room cleared in record time after they realised who was behind them, all rushing out their second congratulations before shuffling out the door quickly.

Colin suddenly felt shy. He could feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins at top speed and his hands were shaking gently.

“Hey, hey.” Bradley said and was suddenly very, very close to Colin. Colin felt hands reach out and wrap around his own, steadying the trembles.

“I didn’t think you’d come.” Colin said in a small voice, averting his eyes to a safe spot to the left of Bradley’s head. Of all the insecurities he possessed about his acting, he felt secure in that position whereas with Bradley… With Bradley he didn’t have a choice.

Bradley was quiet for a minute.

“I-I didn’t think I would either.” Bradley admitted and Colin ripped his hands from Bradley’s grasp. Betrayal whipped Colin across the face, scorching hot.

“Then why did you come, Bradley?” His tone had hardened in a defense mechanism and finally, when he looked Bradley in the eyes, he knew his own were stone cold and challenging.

Bradley’s eyes widened and Colin nearly regretted his actions. Nearly.

“Cols,” Bradley pleaded and Colin felt himself deflate infinitesimally, “I didn’t mean it like that.”

When Bradley was sure he had Colin’s full attention he went on, “I had fun when I was in America. Truth be told, it was a lot of fun but the whole time I felt like there was something missing. It wasn’t London, I know, because how can one miss this dreary city and all its grandiosity?” Bradley paused to take a breather and Colin pondered his words. He knew Bradley hated London; Bradley James wasn’t the kind for rain and clouds all year around, with the occasional sun bath. “And then I heard about The Tempest and I remembered your love for Shakespeare and how your eyes would sparkle when you used to talk about it and how your hands would start telling the story. I remembered your silly superstitions about Macbeth and how you’d listen to Death Cab for Cutie when you were upset because they always seemed to calm you down. Then it all seemed to snap into place; what was missing and it wasn’t just from my life, it, _you_ were missing from my heart and my skin and – I love you, Colin Morgan. I always have and I guess I was just too preoccupied with my own life to realise how much yours meant to me.”

Colin blinked and realization hit him like a hurricane – He’d always known he was in love with Bradley James – he had just never realised how badly he needed him in his life.

“I know, I’m probably too late and I’m sorry. I was being selfish and –”

“Bradley?” Colin cut him off.

“Yeah?”

“Shut up.” And then Colin did what he should have done a long, long time ago. He kissed him

It was a brief chase of lips, chaste and undeniably sweet with an underlying of unwarranted _need_. Bradley wrapped his arms around Colin’s hips, pulling his flush against his body and the kiss ceased to be a simple lip-to-lip and instead transformed into a battle of tongues and teeth and _want_. Colin tangled his hands into Bradley’s hair and sunk deeper into Bradley’s mouth, exploring it with his precautions flying in the wind. Bradley broke the kiss first, gasping for air and leaning his forehead onto Colin’s so that they were staring directly into each other’s eyes.

_Someone get me a life raft_ , Colin thought suddenly, _I think I’m going to drown in all this blue._

“You mentioned something about a bath?” Bradley’s eyes flickered wickedly and Colin grinned filthily.

“Only if you’ll join me.” Colin breathed and Bradley answered him with a quick kiss on his nose.

“Wouldn’t have a chance avoiding me, even if you had all of the British service at your disposal.” Bradley sing-songed before pulling away and taking Colin’s hand instead. “Let’s go to your flat.”

An hour later and Colin himself curled under Bradley’s arm, grinning lazily into his lover’s mouth.

“Does this mean you’re not going back to America for a little while?” Colin asked, tracing random patterns in the light blonde smatterings of hair on Bradley’s chest.

Bradley laughed and Colin relished in the sound, the sight of Bradley’s head tilted backwards as a happy rumbling came from his mouth. “No, Cols, I’m not going back to America until we’re ready.”

Colin nodded and snuggled farther into Bradley’s embrace, leaning his head on Bradley’s chest before letting his eyelids droop shut.

The last thing Colin Morgan remembered thinking about before sleep dragged him into the sea of unconsciousness was that Bradley smelled oddly of peaches.


End file.
